Improvement in rolling apparatus



E. WASSELL. Rolling Apparatus.

Patented June 27, 1865.

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bar as it passes from the rolls and as a guard N` UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN wAssELL, or PITTSBUEG, rENNsYLvANIA, AssIeNoE To HIMsELE AND ARCHIBALD .MCFAELANQ or SAME PLAGE.

l IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,496, dated June 27, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN WAssELI., of the city of Pittsburg, in the county ot' Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rolling- Mills; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a set of rolls for rolling railroad-iron constructedwith my improvements. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation ot' the set of rolls shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 isa vertical section through x, Fig. l.

In the several figures like letters of reference denote similar parts.

My invention consists in certain' improvements in what is` known as three-high rolls,7 in which three rolls set one above the other with their axes in the same vertical plane are used instead of a pair, the middle roll ot" the series serving as a lower roll to the top roll, and as an upper roll to the bottom roll, thus doing double duty.

My improvement consists in usingagrooved roll for the middle roll of the series of threehigh rolls with a ton gue-roll above and below it instead of using two grooved rolls with a tongue-roll between them, as is the ordinary plan; also, in applying the guides for supporting and guiding the iron as itpasses out from between the rolls to the center roll instead of the upper and lower rolls, and so placing the guides relatively to the rest-bars that the iron shall pass out over instead of under the restbars; also, in the use of guides so constructed as to serve not only as clearers to prevent the iron from remaining in the groove and winding` round the roll, but also as a support to the on each side to keep it straight. p Y

In the drawings, A, B, and C are a set of three-high rolls, A being the top roll, B the middle roll, and C the bottom roll. The top and bottom rolls are made with their operative surfaces projecting from the body of the Iroll, forming flanges a a,which are so formed as to give the desired shape to the iron. The middle roll, B, has its operative surfaces sunk into the body of the roll so as to form grooves c, which the flanges a a' of the top and bottom rolls, A and (l, enter. The contour of the opposite faces ot' the rolls determines the shape of the article to be rolled, the rolls shown in the drawings being for rolling railroad-bars.

b is a rest-bar, extending horizontally from one housing, d, to the other, d', in front ofthe rolls with its upper surface at about the level ot' the lower side ofthe passes between the upper and middle rolls.

e andfare rest-bars, extending hoiizontally in rear of the rolls, the upper rest-bar, e, being in front ofthe upper passes, and the lower restbar, f, in front of the lower passes.

It will be seen from the drawings, Figs. l and 2, (but more clearly in Fig. l, where a part of the front rest-bar, I), is broken ott' to give a better view of the ro11s,) that the top and bottom rolls, Aand C, of the series are of the same diameter and construction, and that the operative faces a and a (in the top and bottom rolls A respectively) project beyond the plane surface of the rolls. The middle' roll is grooved at c c o, the operative faces being below the plane surface of the roll B so that the anges a a a of the top roll and the iianges a a u. of the bot toni roll both enter and work inside'of the corresponding grooves c c c in the middle roll. As the sides of the flanges a a must fit closely against the sides of the groove c, the flanges wear away very rapidly, so that it is found in practice that a grooved roll will last four -or tive times as long without dressing as its corA responding flanged roll. In order to take advantage of this fact, I place the grooved roll in the center, wher'e it has to do double duty, and use one grooved roll and two dan ged or tongue rolls instead of employing, as has been heretofore the practice, two grooved rolls and one lian ged roll, because each groove has two flan ges working constantly in it. The advantage of this arrangement is therefore obviously very great, as a series of three-high rolls thus ar ranged will run four times as long without requiring to be taken down to be dressed. This arrangement of the grooved roll in a set of three-high rolls has also the incidental advana tage of enabling me to place the upper and lower guide-bars, h and i, more nearly at the same height, so that the upper guide-bars, h,

are not so high up and the lower guidebars, i,

are not so low down as when there are two grooved rolls used. This is a matter of great convenienc'eto the workmen. The upper guidebars, h, (see Fig. 1,) are peculiarly constructed, having an L-shaped section. The outer end of the guide-bars h rests on the upper rest-bar, b, and their inner extremity rests on the operative face of the grooved or middle roll, B. The L shape of these guide-bars forms a guard on each side of the railroad-bar as it passes from between the rolls, and the bar rests on and is supported by the guide-bars as it passes from the rolls. The ordinary mode of using guides is to pass the iron bar as itpasses from between the rolls under the guides, so that the guides afford no support whatever to the bar; but by my plan of placing the grooved roll in the center of the series l am enabled to pass the iron bar over the guides, and thus prevent its bending and dropping down between the rest-bar b and the rolls.

rIhe'lower guide is made in thc shape ot' a rectangular box, partly open at top, and is composed of three pieces, a bottom pieoe,j, and two side pieces, la la. The bottom piece is supported by the rest-bar f and the upper face of the lower roll, C, and the side pieces are supported bythe stem l ot' the guide-holder fm, which is a hollow cylinder containing a spiral spring, which presses up and sustains the head of the stem Z, thus affording a yielding support to the guides. This guideholder formsthe subj ect-matter of another patent, and need not therefore be more particularly described. The iron bar as it emerges from between the rolls passes through the guide-box just described, being supported by the bottom piece,j, and kept in placelaterally by the side pieces, k 7c.

Having thus described my improvement in rolling-mills, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The use, in a series of three-high rolls, ot' one grooved roll and two anged or tongue rolls, the grooved roll being placed between the other two rolls, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

2. The use of L-shaped guides, in combination with the grooved roll in the middle of a vseries of three-high rolls, for the purpose of giving the iron a bearing from the point. to the heel of the guide as it passes from between the rolls, as well as for clearing it from the groove, substantially as hereinbefore described.

In testimony whereof I, the said EDWIN WASSELL, have hereunto set my hand.

' EDWIN WASSELL. Witnesses:

ALLAN C. BAKEWELL, W. D. LEwIs. 

